Closure for milk-jars and the like.



No. 886,014 v PATEN TED APR. 28, 1908. I

P. K. PLYMPTON.

CLOSURE FOR MILK JARS AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 21. 1907.

a )1. I i .62 7 wafinssesx 4' fnvenzorr' i Uni s'ra'rps FREDERIG K. PLYMPTON, OF WELLESLEY, MASSACHUSETTS.

CLOSURE FOR MILK-JARS AND THE LIKE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERIC-K. PLYMP- TON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Wellesley, in the county of Norfolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Closures for Milk-Jars and the Like, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

The invention has relation to the diskshaped so-called caps, covers, or closures which are used for sealing milk and cream bottles or jars and the like.

More particularly, the invention has relation to attachments for such caps, covers, or closures, of the class contrived for the ose of facilitating the extraction of the latter from their seats within the mouths or necks of tlliie gottles or jars to which they have been a e p arious forms of extractors have been proposed heretofore. Certain of these are. made of metal strips, each attached by one end to the disk constituting a cap, cover, or closure, with a handle portion or tab lyin against the upper surface of the disk. The attachment of the extractor to the disk has been effected either by passing one end of the metal strip through the thickness of the disk one or more times and clenching such end, or by means of a staple that is passed through the strip andthe thickness of the disk and then clenched. In these instances the strip is made fast by one end to the disk at a point inside the edge or periphery of the latter, and the handle-portion or tab extends inward toward the center of the disk. The extractor attachmentthus a-p lied is utilized in effecting the removal of t 1e cap or cover from the mouth of a bottle or jar, by lifting the free end of the handle portion or tab from the up-' 1 per surface of the cap or cover, and then pu ing upward upon the same until the marginal portion of the cap or cover at one sid at and adjacent the point of attachment of the extractor has been started at such side, the complete removal of the cap or cover being thereby facilitated.

The invention is designed as an improvement in extractor attachments of the class just described. In the case of the attachments with which I have become acquainted, the attachment itself is secured to the disk of the cap or cover at more or less distance from the edge of such disk. When a cap or cover with extractor attachment thus applied is in Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filedNovember'2l, 1907.

Patented April 2a, 1908.

Serial No. 403,152.

' place within the seat at the mouth of a bottle or jar, and an upward pull is exerted throu h the handle or tab of the extractor, such pu 1, taking enact primarily at the point of connection with the disk, that is to say at a greater or less distance from the edge of the disk, acts at thesame distance from the place where such edge is in en agement with the confining portion of. the bottle. Therefore, not only is the lifting pull distributed around a greater or less portion of the margin of the disk, but the tendency of such pull to lift the disk continues to be resisted at the edge itself by the engagement of such edge with the confining portion of the bottle. Hence, a considerable degree of resistance at the nearest portion of the edge of the disk, 0 posing withdrawal, has to be overcome by t e ull which is ap lied within the inclosure of t e edge or perip ery, before the edge can be started. When the ca or cover is started, it is apt to come too su denly.

One of the objects of my invention is to Erovide an extractor attachment which shall e so applied to the edge of the disk of a cap or cover that the pull exerted for the purpose of effecting the removal of the ea or cover from the mouth of a bottle or jar s all take efieckupon the exterior of the said edge, itself, and shall act directly a ainst the said exterior with a tendenc to draw first that portion of the edge tow iich the attachment is applied away from the confinin portionof the ottle, and to then gradua y strip or withdraw from the seat the remaining portions of the edge at opposite sides of the )lace of attachment of the extractor. Therey the pulling strain will be concentrated primarily at the point of application of the attachment, instead of being distributed around a greater or less extent of the edge or peri hery of the disk, and by acting with a ten ency to pull the edge out from the confining portion of the bottle at such point first Will renderfthe removal of the cap or cover much easier to effect than heretofore. At the same time, the withdrawal will take place more gradually.

The invention further has as one of the objects tlaq-reof to enable the extractor to be attached to the disk of the ca or cover without passing it through the t ickness of the said disk, and without the use of staples, so as thereby to avoid certain defects and drawbacks of some of the extractors heretofore proposed. That is to say, when the extractor is attached to a cap or cover by inserting one end thereof through the material of the disk, and clenching such end at the under side of the disk, the said end may partly straighten under a pull, and draw out of the slit, or the clenched end may tear loose, especially if the lifting force is suddenly exerted. hen a staple is used it likewise is liable to become unclenched or to tear loose. The said object of the invention is to enable the extractor to be attached in a manner which will obviate any such liabilities.

The invention consists in an extractor attachment which is fitted around the edge of the disk' of a cap or cover, with one portion or limb thereof in contact with the under surface of the said disk, and with the other portion or limb thereof in contact with the upper surface of the disk and extended toward the center of the disk to constitute a handle or tab. When a cap or cover equipped with such an attachment is fitted to its seat in the mouth or neck of a bottle or jar, the outermost portion of the attachment fits into lace in connection with such seat without interfering with the tightness of the sealing. hen the inner end of the handle or tab is lifted and pulled upward, it draws that portion of the edge of the disk which is clasped by the attachment upward out of the seat, without the tendency to tear loose that exists in the cases previously mentioned.

Embodiments of the invention are represented in the drawings.

In the latter,Fi 'ure 1 shows in plan the neck or mouth of a bottle sealed by a cap or cover having one embodiment of the invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a view in section on line 2, 2, of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a bottom view of the cap or cover of Figs. 1 and 2, with its extractor attachment. Fig. 4 is a perspective of the extractorattachment of Figs. 1-,- 2 and 3, in a partially bent state, detached, and on an enlarged scale. Fig. 5 is a bottom view of a cap or cover having a second embodiment of the invention applied thereto. F ig. 6 is a view in section on line 6, 6, of Fig. Fig. 7 is a top view showing a third embodiment of the invention. Fig. 8 is a view in section on line 8, 8, of Fig. 7.

Having reference to the drawings,at 1, Figs 1 and 2, is the mouth portion (if a milkjar. Thesefigures show 'a cap or cover 2 a plied to the seat which is formed within 1; e said portion, as usual in sealing the mouth or neck of a milk-jar.

At 3 is an extractor attachment applied to the said ca or cover and embodying the invention. i s previously described herein, the said extractor consists of a stri of metal which is fitted around the edge of the disk constituting the cap or cover, with one limb thereof restin in contact with the under surface of the dis and the other limb resting in contact with the upper surface of the latter.

aaacii or cover, and when the cap or cover with its extractor attachment embodying my invention isinserted into the seat of the mouth or neck of a bottle or jar the said bend fits in place in such seat without interfering with the )erfect sealin of the bottle or jar. Normally, the handle or tab lies close to the upper surface of the disk, but when it is desired to extract the cap or cover the handle 'or tab is lifted so that it assumes a position like that shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2. Thereupon, a pull upward and toward. the right in such figure willstart the side of the disk with which the extractor is en aged, drawing such side from its seat and 0 car of the-rim above the latter, rendering it easy to com lets the removal of the ea or cover. At t e time of being ap )lid' to t e disk, the bent strip is pinched tig tly upon the latter.

To'prevent accidental dislodgment of the extractor from the disk at any time prior to the insertion of the cap or cover into the mouth or neck of a bottle or jar, I contemplate in'some cases bending up spurs 3, 3, at the free endof the under limb to. enter the material of the disk. Fig. 4 shows the said spurs bent up in readiness to be entered into such material, and Fig. 3 shows them thus entered, looking at the under side of the cap or cover.

In Flgs. 5 and 6 a hole 3 has been made in the lower liinb, producing a bur which is shown as entered 1nto the material of the disk, thereby engaging such limb with the disk. Figs. 7 and 8 show the extractor corrugated, as by the effect of pressure be: tween corrugated surfaces after the application of the device to the disk, thereby increasing the hold of the device upon the disk. These different methods of eifecting engagement of the extractor with the disk have the advantage that they safeguard against the lower limb drawing away from. the disk at the'time when the handle is lifted and pulled upward as described hereinabove.

The rounded free end of the handle or tab of the extractor, shown in Figs. 1, 4 and 7, is advantageous, because it has no tendency to cut or cause injury when a person inserts the edge of his finger-nail beneath the same in picking it up, preliminary to bending the andle upward as in Fig. 2. In forming the. successive extractors from a continuous strip by cuttin the latter transversely into short lengths, t e operation of cutti out'this rounded end will leave the opposing end of the next extractor concave, as in Fig. 5.

The opposite hornsof the concavity simply have to be-turned u at an angle to the plane of such end, as in ig. 4, to orm the spurs 3 3.

What is claimed as the invention is 1. A. bottle or jar closure or cover comprising a thin disk and an extractor fitting around the edge of the said disk clasping the latter, with a handle or tab at the upper surface of the disk which normally lies close to said surface and is adapted to be lifted therefrom.

2 A bottle or jar closure or cover comprising a thin disk and an extractor fitting around the ed e of the said disk and clasping the latter, witl i a flexible handle or tab at the upper surface of the disk and a second limb at the under surface thereof engaged with the material of the disk.

3. A bottle or jar closure or cover comprisinga thin disk and an extractor'fitting around the edge of the said disk and clasping the latter, with a flexible handle or tab at the upper surface of the disk and a second limb at the under surface thereof having a projecting portion engaged with the material of the disk.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FREDERIC K. PLYMPTON. Witnesses:

CHAS. F. RANDALL, EDITH J. ANDERSON. 

